Our goal today was an easy one, Chatel Censoir. We got through all but one lock by the noon shut down. We were able
to stop for lunch just below the last lock.

We spiked the boat and walked above the lock to find a good place to
moor for the night. There was a great spot right next to the lock. When the lock opened at 1:00 we went through and grabbed
that spot. It even had water and electricity.

The lock keeper directed us to a restaurant down by the train station.
Of course it was closed. As we walked toward the center of town we stumbled on a small (5 table) restaurant. They had one
plat de jour left (chicken, beef, lamb, beans, and couscous) and were also able to dig up two steaks with pomme frites. It
sure filled our bellies as it was 2:00 by the time we got to the restaraunt.

In the harbor area we met an American couple who dont have a home on land, but own two boats. One of theirs is a power boat
in Florida for the winter months and the other is a 21 year old Dutch canal boat for summers in Europe. This was their fourth
summer in Europe. The first two they spent in Holland and the last two in France. They were very friendly and more importantly
gave us two much needed rolls of toilet paper and a roll of paper towels. All we were able to offer them was a 4 day old
English paper, but they were glad to get it.

We ate dinner outside on the sundeck, enjoyed watching the light
changing colors on the hillside buildings as the sun went down. We can now understand how the impressionists got the inspiration
for many of their paintings. The clouds and skies in France at sunset are spectacular.

There was a house near
our boat that had music playing most of the day. The woman that lived there brought out her rabbit for Christopher to pet.
Julie told her (in French) that Christopher had two rabbits in his class at school, as well as four ducks. Christopher loved
playing with the rabbit.

There was a small dinner party that night at their house that got rather silly. One
of the guests put on a funny hat and got a guitar and tin can and pretended that he was a street musician. While he sang
for coins, his friends were videotaping the whole episode. Everyone was laughing very hard. The owner of the house brought
us three glasses of a 20 year old burgonone blanc wine that was fabulous. Its wonderful how good spirits and wine can overcome
any language barrier.

Thunder and lightning began around midnight. We took it as an early celebration of the
Fourth of July back home. And all in all, we decided that we were lucky to be in France.

Lock Keepers

We were able to put lock keepers into one of three categories.

The first were the little old ladies, sometimes
with their husbands, that tended the locks and lived in a house right next to the lock. We got the impression that some of
them came from families that had tended locks for two or three generations. As a rule they spoke little or no English, but
had huge smiles. Many were very proud of their lock houses and locks.

The second type were college students
that treated it as a summer job. Sitting in the sun, getting up every half-hour or so to let a boat through which gave them
plenty of opportunities to read. Most of them spoke English quite well. We ran across one boy whose girlfriend we at met
a couple of locks earlier.

The last category where men who we considered professional eclusiers. This type tended
to be at locks that were more intense with higher lifts or double locks. The were very efficient, if not as friendly as
the others.

All the lock keepers were friendly. Even when we could not communicate verbally, we were able to
smile, wave, gesture, and communicate in some fashion. We had brought enameled Olympic pins as a thank you token for helping
us on our way. Patrick would had them out --it was very cute